For the last 13 years we have been specialising in the professional transfer of all types of film and photographic material for the general public, film and television companies, museums and other outlets. The top search terms to find us are transfer cine to DVD and transfer cine to digital.

Don’t risk your films at a supermarket service. Despite being almost double our price some people think the high street name means a great product. Think again, we have lost count of how many times we have had to rescan jobs previously butchered by high street stores. This is because they send the films away to the lowest bidder and then add on their huge markup. So they are not done inhouse but posted off to who knows where, they are not professionals and if you speak with them you will soon discover this. Safety of your films and quality of the transfer is the highest priority for us, that is why we never, ever send your films on to someone else.

How about the cheap scanners from China? The old maxim, “you get what you pay for” is true in this case. These machines look amazing, they only cost a few hundred pounds and the results on Youtube look good, why spend the same or more on a professional transfer then? There are many issues with the low cost scanners, namely, very high compression so many artifacts are present on the films. The machines scan at the American NTSC frame rate of 29.97 fps, cine film was shot at 16 or 18 fps and so the resulting film will be running way to fast and everyone will walk around like Charlie Chaplin! The pull down claws on these machines are weak and cause issues with sprocket hole damage. They scan extremely slowly so be prepared for a very long job. The warranty is debatable, we have seen reports of 2 days only, barely enough time to use it. They do not hold films above 5 inch diameter so cutting and splicing to smaller reels will need to be done if you have 7 inch reels. The machine uses the pull down claw to pull the films through rather than a separate sprocket drive system, resulting in a large amount of judder and jumping, they cannot at all deal with even the slightest film damage. No sound facility at all. And so on. It is a better system than filming your films off a projector screen with a camcorder, but only barely.

Our Motto is “Your Memories, Safe In Our Hands” and this is as important to us as it is to you. For this reason we never ship any work to anyone else, everything is done in our own studio, you can be assured that your films will be treated as if they are our own. We offer free collection from anywhere within the UK, and even better we are open to the general public, so why not pop in with your films for a coffee and a chat, you’re more than welcome. Our family run company is very proud of the work we have carried out over the years. Saving people’s memories from disintegrating over time, “laughter and tears” is the usual feedback from our customers as they relive lost times.

The short film above is a compilation of some of the many different film formats we produce, the oldest example is from 1924, and the newest is a full HD wedding from this year, films from families like yours spanning some ninety years. We believe we are the best choice for film transfers in the UK today, we love what we do and are continually trying to improve our service to you. We can tell you all sorts of great things about our company, but the final word must go to our customers, click HERE to see what they think.

What do you get with a Timeless Moments Transfer?

When you send your films to us we first clean them, then transfer the film to digital files. Next we either send these files back to you on a hard drive or memory stick, or if you have requested the films be put on DVD we carry out the following.

All footage is edited for removal of blank or unwatchable film

All footage is remastered to the best possible image quality using advanced colour correction routines and image stabilisation methods

Titles are added as read either from the films themselves or from a list provided by you

Chapter points are then added for each reel/tape or part thereof

A scene selection menu is added for easy navigation using your remote control, a main menu is also added

Easy listening or classical music is added if requested, free of charge. The music is tailored to suit the content on screen by our trained editor. You may also choose cine projector sound or silent

A standard DVD Case or an optional DVD Case is created using images from your footage, one main photo on the front and up to four on the back

The JVC Watershield DVD is printed with images from your film

All this for one inclusive price of 15p per foot to digital or 20p per foot to DVD.

For more details on the transfer service please see the appropriate page for Cine and Tapes

Free NEXT DAY* Collection for all orders anywhere in the UK mainland

We understand that your films are priceless to you and ideally you would prefer to drop off the films if you lived close enough. We have had people drive the length of the country to hand deliver their films because they are afraid of them being lost if they post them normally. First of all we would like to assure all readers that in the last 10 years the number of packages that have gone missing on route to us or been delayed more than a day so far numbers.....ZERO. That’s right, it has never happened. Providing you address your parcel correctly and use Royal Mail first class recorded or special delivery your parcel will arrive at our studio within one or two days.

However for peace of mind we are offering a FREE collection service for ALL orders within the UK mainland. All you need to do is box up the films, weigh and measure the box preferably in Kg and cm, then call us to arrange collection. We will arrange the best date for your films to be collected and email you the packaging labels to stick on the box. It’s that simple and your films are guaranteed to arrive safely. You will of course save a considerable amount of postage costs on large items when compared to Royal Mail. To arrange collection call us now on 0115 9301 699.*Usually next working day collection is available depending on the time of your call.

We are very excited to be working with the Past Lives Project tour, funded by Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England. During 2013 – 2015 the project tours Bolsover, Ironbridge, Nottingham, Mansfield, Derby, Ilkeston, South Holland and Buxton. Click on the banner to learn more.

Editing the footage yourself? Take a look in our unique shop for the very best quality items in small quantities for your home editing project. Normally to buy the best in this business means buying in bulk, but why would you want to buy 50 Archive grade DVDs for example when you only need 5? Our shop is geared precisely for this apparent gap in the market, we cater to the home editing enthusiast. Watershield DVDs, Amaray cases, Mirror paper and lots more. Quick easy online payment by Paypal or Credit card.

Some of our well known customers

Over the years we have worked with some well known names in the film and television industry. Here are some of them:

If you subscribe to our mailing list we will send you periodic newsletters and exclusive offers such as big discounts of at least 10% off a particular service. When you join you will be sent a confirmation email asking you to confirm or verify your subscription. It is very important to us that you are not spammed, there is enough of that nonsense on the web already without us adding to it!

We promise never to pass on your email address to anyone else, it will be kept in our database for future use or until you unsubscribe. So you’ve nothing to lose and quite a lot to gain!

From the blog.... BEWARE OF COWBOYS!

Setting up a nice looking website is not difficult. Buying a variable speed projector is also pretty easy, you can find them on Ebay all the time. Recording cine footage via a mirror box or directly off a white wall with a camcorder is also not difficult, almost anyone can do it.

As it’s so easy to set up in this business and offer a professional looking service via a web site you naturally would expect many people to have a go, and you’d be right. The Google searches are full of them, every day new ‘companies’ set up shop to earn a little part time pocket money. You won’t know what the results are like until you get the films back having paid out a fair amount of your hard earned money for the privilege.

The problem is achieving good results is impossible with this kind of setup and a full time professional company must invest a minimum of £40,000 in telecine technology to make it work right. This is way beyond a back bedroom cowboy’s budget. If you get your films back and they are a flickering washed out mess then you can be absolutely sure you’ve been scammed.

A few check points to help you make your decision.

1. Do check through the web site thoroughly to see what kind of equipment they are using, if it doesn’t say then they don’t want you to know.

2. If you see the words “we are not open to the public” it’s a sure fired bet they are working from their house and not a separate studio either that or their business is sharing premises with another more legitimate business and they don’t want the two to overlap.

3. If you are unsure request a sample free of charge. Any reputable company will offer a sample service, the footage may have a watermark to protect the company against theft but it will be obvious when you watch it that it’s a professional transfer.

4. Don’t believe anything on the web site, least of all testimonials and paid for reviews. Yes we have a testimonial section but we don’t expect you to believe what’s said without supporting evidence, testimonials should be looked at as a small part of the whole service offered. Also read through the testimonials carefully, if they have been made up you will often see repeating patterns in the word structure.

5. DO CALL THEM. A far more accurate assessment of a business and an individual can be ascertained over the phone, don’t be afraid to ask for recommendations, ask technical questions, ask whatever you want.

6. DO VISIT THE COMPANY if you can. Even if they are too far away to visit the fact that they are open to the public and therefore do actually receive visits is often assurance enough.

7. Recommendations such as Which? approved, or a BBC supplier code such as ours are very easily verifiable and any company suggesting they have these credentials without proof could find themselves in hot water fairly quickly. So do a little background checking. Also check the company’s name on Google with the words “poor service” or “terrible” after their name to see what comes up. Similarly it is very easy to check to see if a company really is limited or not, if they are they should display their Company number on their website. Limited companies have far more controls and regulations governing their transactions than sole traders and whilst this is no guarantee of quality it is at least another indicator that you are dealing with a reputable firm.

Of course there are some small companies that are not open to the public that do a terrific job, we know one of them not far from us and they offer a similar level of professionalism as us, however they are the exception.

So be careful, do your research because you don’t want to be fobbed off with a poor transfer when most cine films look far better than their owners ever imagined they could be. To see some examples look at our example transfer page.

Quick Links Our Youtube Channel has many examples of our work and a few interesting short films